Leslie Kay (lmk2 at garnet.berkeley.edu) wrote:
: a discussion of the anatomic divisions of the allocortex, mesocortex,
: and isocortex.
Your discussion raises some comments and questions. First, I find it
interesting that the entorhinal cortex (EC) might not project to the
thalamus. The thalamus appears to mediate the transmission of sensory
data to the isocortex. I understand this tends to be multi-modal, and although
olfactory data have already been processed by the OB/AON/OB and EC, the
lack of sensory integration of olfactory data is curious, unless that's
the function of the EC. Second, the stellate cells are involved in
inhibitory interactions between the local complexes of pyramidal cells.
I seem to recall a similar set of external inputs to the granule cells
in the olfactory bulb. I wouldn't even be surprised if similar inputs
were found in the isocortex. Layer 4 is the thalamic input layer in the
isocortex. I assume the deep layer input from the thalamus that you
mention hits layer 4. That is functionally necessary as part of the
orientation to novelty. The superficial layer thalamic input might
correspond to the AON input to the OB (or might not...). Where does the
output of the PC hit the EC?
--
Harry Erwin
Internet: herwin at gmu.edu
Working on Katchalsky nets....